This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
At Arzuaga, we’ve been lucky enough to witness the life cycle of the vine for the past three decades. This unique natural sight is definitely worth enjoying in person. Each season of the year has its own particular characteristics and highlights that make it special. If we think about summer, the harvest inevitably comes to mind. The grapes are picked after a few months where the vine has been alive and full of colour and fruit. In autumn, we have the changing colours of the leaves that create an amazing landscape with a palette of brown, ochre, orange and red tones… Then, in winter, the vines are naked, without any leaves or fruit – an impressive sight to see. But if we stop and think about it, spring is surely one of the most magical seasons when it comes to the vineyard. That’s because it’s the season when the vines reawaken.
As we’ve already told you on our blog, in winter, the vines concentrate their reserves in the roots to survive the low temperatures. When spring arrives and we start to notice those first rays of sunshine and warmer temperatures, the sap leaves the roots and begins to run through the plant again, extending through the trunk and reaching the shoots that remain after pruning.
For all these reasons, spring might be the season that has the most phenomena associated with it in the vineyard. When the bleeding of the vines ends, the cuts start to seal off and the remaining leaf buds on each shoot start to get covered with a cottony substance. We’re one step away from bud break. This is the process where the first green shoots appear, announcing the beginning of a new cycle. It’s a very beautiful moment visually and very important in the development of the grape bunches. A few weeks after the bud break, we witness one of the most unexplored and beautiful moments of the vine life cycle: the flowering. Have you ever seen the flowers that grow on the vines? We assure you that it’s incredibly beautiful. The flowers will be fertilised later, and then, after a few months, they will turn into the fruit that will be picked during the harvest, the grapes we will use to make a new vintage of our wines.
There is no doubt that the reawakening of the vineyards is a unique natural sight that springtime brings along with it. To see it for yourself, just come and visit us at Arzuaga!